Service discovery protocol suites such as mDNS, UPnP/SSDP, LLMNR have helped make discovery of devices such as printers and display devices relatively easy. Further, using zero configuration protocols and systems, client devices such as phones, tablets, and laptops can discover available printers and display devices on a network. Technologies such as these may have begun in home and small office environments, but quickly spread to large enterprises, universities and schools.
Virtualized server instances (e.g., VMs) and storage devices are being utilized in some new application deployments today. The traditional “bare metal” server approach is becoming a thing of the past. Consequently, a key problem faced by some IT departments is meeting the challenges of mapping virtualized server instances to appropriate network instances (e.g., network services). The dynamic migration capabilities of VMs can exacerbate this problem.
Different management (responsibility) domains between the server management—and the network management team may complicate the matter and require relatively complex and costly coordination. Time to service for connecting a new application to the network can typically take days instead of minutes as it should. A need may exist for a simple and effective way to ensure that applications can be quickly attached to the correct network domain.
Some implementations were conceived in light of the above mentioned needs, problems and/or limitations, among other things.